Seven Heavenly Virtues
by Bittersweet Romanticide
Summary: Sequel to Seven Deadly Sins. Misty decides that if her boyfriend is going to embody the sins, she'll embody the virtues. Unfortunately, he has very different thoughts in mind. AAML


**Disclaimer: Little girl writer, get off la Red, all of these fanfics have gone to your head. She cannot believe she owns Pokémon! "Who knows? She might! Her mind's long gone." Will you alert her? "No, not I, for if I do she's sure to cry." I'm a creative little devil, aren't I?  
**  
Well, this is a companion to Seven Deadly Sins. Since these are more rarely known, and there's a couple that would make you wonder what its opposite is, and what exactly it means (abstinence isn't about sex, who knew?) I'm going into a little more depth with each other. I apologize for those who know them by heart; I used Wikipedia and put forth much effort into identifying them.

Ash's origin (you'll see later) comes from long, over-thinking rants from me and Kryptonian225, who insisted that I put this in a fic.

**

* * *

**Patience, despite contrary belief, _could _be displayed by the feisty redhead. She could wait a little while for Ash to realize the stupidity of his words (_see: Huh? and Whaaaa?!_) and she could wait while her sisters shoved her out of the way to use the bathroom. The other half of it, the thing that made it quite the opposite of wrath, the ability to forgive and show mercy _without _physical violence was a little more challenging for her, as she was more the pummel and destruct kind of type. She hoped half of it would have to do, as the others left her and Ash to the children's TV show they were watching to go out and do more 'adult' things. Like shopping for outfits in the children's section.

"Ash," she stated, "if you're the sins, I'm going to be the virtues."

The boy carefully rolled his eyes away from the action sequence on the screen, then looked back, trying his best to hide the smile fighting its way onto his face. His eyes crinkled at the corner and he bit on his lower lip for a moment before return to his expressionless viewing.

Her temper flared, and she pushed him back on the sofa with both hands, hovering over him with hands pressing down hard on his chest. She leaned perilously close to his face, sliding her knees up between his spread legs. Though they had often been in such a position before, neither could help the wiggling and twitching kind of excitement that came with it, fluttering hearts and clenching stomachs. Tempers had often led to this position, as it did now, and Ash beamed knowing where it would lead to.

"And what is _that _supposed to mean, Ketchum? I saw that look you gave."

He smiled reaching up a hand to smooth back a lock of ginger hair that tumbled into her face, hand going much too slow and lingering much too long to be anything but an invite for another kiss. He used his fingertips, the only part uncovered by gloves. They had kissed with the gloves on and off. Misty still couldn't tell which she liked better, but she always loved those fingertips, and judging by the shiver down her spine this wasn't any different.

"It's just…Misty, the seven are chastity, abstinence, generosity, diligence, kindness, and humility. The only one you really show is diligence, and kindness is damn near impossible unless you're trying to trick someone into buying you something. Besides, I like you the way you are. I'm just _naturally _the seven sins. You're not naturally an angel." He chuckled, "You're more like the villainess than the hero."

She pulled away with a furious glare at the TV, watching as the hero was blasted into the wall. "I am _plenty _virtuous if I try. I'm a good person! I'm just as much a hero as you are! You didn't save the world alone, you stupid boy."

"No," he agreed. "You're not evil, but even the seven sins didn't make me totally evil. The way everybody talks about things…I don't really bother listening to anyone else anymore. I just think of what my heart tells me, what my heart says is right." He crawled close to her on the sofa a planted a gentle kiss just behind her ear. "And my heart tells me that _you're _right, just the way you are, and that we should start doing that make out thing we haven't done since the last time I saw you."

"That violates chastity," she said stubbornly, standing up to watch him fall against the harder arm of the couch with a satisfying _thunk!_ against his empty head. She followed up with a hard smack on his back. "Now I'm just doing it because you said I couldn't! It was just a joke, Ash, but you thought it was so ridiculous that I could do it! Well, I can!"

"That's not what I said," he retorted. "And I'm pretty sure hitting me isn't very virtuous!"

She turned her back on him (which, though she didn't realize, was a nice view from where the boy, who was still sexually frustrated, sat and contemplated about how nice it would be to reach out and grab her butt, even if she did kick his butt afterwards) and barked, "Ash Ketchum, you don't have any faith in me."

He scowled. "No, it's just that you're fine the way you are and I'd _like _to be making out right now. This whole chastity thing is getting in my way."

"I'm not in the mood!" She continued to watch the cartoon character, which was now using some kind of awesome attack that could have been used earlier to defeat the villain and would have saved the poor guy a lot of hurt if he didn't have to fill twenty two minutes, plus commercials.

He grinned at that. "Sure, sure. Three months apart and you're telling me, that with a full blow case of the hormones, you don't want to make out with your boyfriend?"

She paused and glanced over her shoulder. "Boyfriend? Aren't we jumping a bit? We've only had three dates."

"And countless make out sessions," he muttered, all too eager to jump to boyfriend status (just so he could rub it in Brock's face, not for any romantic reasons, of course). In a louder voice, he continued, "I'll make a deal with you, Misty: I'll agree that you're a perfect angel if you can go one week following every one of the virtues. I'll announce it to Brock, Dawn, anyone you want. Hey, I'll even call up your sisters. If you lose…" He grinned up at her. "Well, I'll win because that means we're making out. I don't need any other prize than that."

"You're such a boy!" She laughed and bent to get eye level with him. "_I _know how to control myself. Though you're not strong enough to break free of the sins, I sure as hell am. I'm going to be a perfect angel this whole week, and there's nothing you can do about it!"

"Yes, there is," Ash said, one, flesh fingertip sliding along her jaw line. "That's what makes it so much fun. If you french me at _any _point during the week, you lose. You lose if you hit me or yell at me to hurry. You lose if you eat more deserts than anyone else at the table, or hog chocolate snacks. You lose if you brag. You lose if you make cruel jokes and you lose if you slack off with me instead of doing work when there's work to be done. Unless, of course, there's cooking." He laughed again and smirked. "Don't want you blowing up the kitchen, Mist."

One hand rested on the arm of the sofa, the other on the back, to keep her stable while her knees shook so much she was sure they were knocking. Had it really been three months since the last time they kissed? Her hormones seemed to scream that, yes, three months and much too long. "No problem. The fifths on the desert thing is going to hurt, but it's not like I'm sacrificing anything I want. You're not that great a catch."

He sat up, the hand resting on the sofa getting covered by his gloved one, and she held back a shiver at the feeling of the too familiar worn down fabric. His lips were inches away from hers, and he tilted his head a bit, already gearing up for a kiss. "Remember how that argument ended when you found out I actually _read _the book Brock got me on how to kiss?"

She couldn't stop the shiver then, because, _oh boy_, did she ever remember how fun that argument had been. It had been in his own room, on his bed, surrounded by sheet that smelled like him when he was just home from a journey and tangling tongues with a boy who had just cleaned himself with some kind of soap that wasn't as overwhelming as the AXE kind of thing Brock used. She remembered that, in fact, it was one of the things she most often remembered when she slipped into her daydream.

She yanked away fast, realizing she had been leaning forward, _'dammit, dammit, dammit!', _and gave him her boldest smile. "No, Ash darling, I don't remember a thing."

Misty walked out, head high, and clenched his fist so tightly it stung. It was only one week, the rest of this week and this day was almost over. She could hide from Ash until then, oh yes. She just needed to calm down, and think of bunnies. Like Dawn's buneary! Yes, Dawn's buneary that was just as cute as Ash's pikachu, which in so many ways was just like Ash except Pikachu couldn't reveal secrets about their origin by whispering Italian sentiments in her ear while his hands-

She let out a quiet whine and she slammed the door to her room, feeling as breathless from her daydream as if the boy was actually there.

"One week," she whispered to herself, banishing the not very chastity ridden thought. "Be patient, Misty, just one week."

**

* * *

**Generosity, however, was easy as pie. Greed wasn't something she was big on, perhaps because she never had the chance. Being the youngest of four, she never really had anything to herself. Most of her toys were destroyed by her older sisters as compensation for when she destroyed theirs. She usually had a twinge of sarcasm in her generosity, at the very least mockery. She offered Ash the use of her pokémon, as he couldn't do it on his own. She offered advice to others under the illusion that she was an all knowing wonderful mystic. She also wasn't like a girl or parrot, where anything that sparkled was to be coveted and hidden away, as the Sensational Sisters often traded jewelry.

Now, she helped Dawn pick out a dress for the upcoming contest. If by help, she meant cuddling Pikachu while Dawn, May, and Zoey giggled over their shopping. Misty typically did her shopping on Princess Day, one day a year, with the massive sales and free eating. This was a fancy store, and looking at the prices made her nauseous. She was taught to be a bargain hunter, then to take them home and stitch them up so they were one of a kind and with the latest fashions. That, and daydreaming about no-shirt-sexy-music-great-kissing-pokémon-trainers was making it awfully hard to focus. Very hard to focus.

_His hands traveled up her almost bare back and smoothed the fabric of her bra, beginning the typical struggle he had with removing it. First one hand, then both were used, until the point that it was getting ridiculous, and she giggled, flipping him over and straddling his hips. She shook her finger slowly, back and forth in a no-no gesture, declaring that the bra still stayed on for now, and then distracted him from the disappointment by lowering her head, with an almost vampire like-lust, to his neck. She parted her lips, giving them a quick lip before, and prepared to bite, heart racing and butterflies surging in her stom-_

"Hungry?" May giggled.

Misty jumped out of her thoughts, the quiet cricket chirping that had been in her memory (she would never look at the Viridian forest the same way again) replaced by with the bustling of mall shoppers and some annoying pop song blaring on the speakers as she did. Color rose to her face as it struck her that there were three girls giggling and looking her way, all hopefully thinking that she was hungry instead of lusting after that gorgeous neck she hadn't kissed in _three damn months_.

"I'm sorry," Misty laughed. "Brock said that he was going to make the dessert for the party after the contest and I can't stop thinking about it! I'm hoping it's something chocolate. It's been a long time since I've had anything sweet." She felt her thoughts going hazy and she flicked her tongue over her lips again. "It's been three whole months since I've had something that sweet. I should just get it already."

"No!" Dawn insisted. "Wait a little while longer! It'll taste _so _much better once you do!"

Misty was barely able to hold back the whimper in the back of her throat, and barely able to hold back the blush as she saw Zoey, who smirked in a way that was just a little too knowing. She hoped there wasn't some kind of redhead telekinetic connection she was unaware of and unable to use. But Zoey was nice, wasn't she? If she did know, she wouldn't jump in and torture her. From what Ash had told her, she was a very sweet, advice giving girl. Generous.

"Is it just your favorite brand of chocolate, or any brand at all?" Zoey asked. "I could probably take a quick break and see if I could find some for you."

Correction. Not generous, but cold-hearted bitch. Oh, she had to know. She just had too! There had to be something wicked behind that smile. Maybe she was going crazy from sexual frustration and tension. It did make sense. Supposedly, people were quite irritated when they didn't have enough sex, so why not go paranoid? She had sex on her brain; of course she would think that everyone else would. But, either way, she didn't want chocolate or mall ass. She wanted her sexy Ash.

Zoey had the nerve to continue, smiling a sweet smile though Misty knew there couldn't possibly be a heart in there. This was pure torture, to be talking when she would much rather do anything else than sit in this store, with girls gossiping about guys, and her storing up enough lust to fuel a fraternity for a decade. "I know what it is! You've got a boyfriend you're missing back in Cerulean, don't you? That's what you're dreaming about!"

Misty's thoughts were consumed with this: _I'll cut off her feet and break her legs so she can't run, then I'll stab her until she looks like cheese._

But her mouth, apparently, was not connected to her brain and twisted into a smile. It lied, too shyly to ever be in character, "Oh, yeah. He's a real nice guy. It's been such a long time since I've seen him, and I'm dying to meet up with him again." Her mouth sighed dreamily. "See, I drag him to stores like this all the time and make him tell me what he thinks of all the outfits. I always have to buy one he absolutely hates, just to annoy him."

Well, honesty wasn't a virtue, she supposed, but she bet it would come back to bite her on the ass. Anything her mouth did without her mind's consent often came back to bite her on the ass, mostly because, as good as a liar the mouth was, it forgot to remind the brain what stories it had told.

Dawn was by her side in a flash, touching her shoulder (which Misty politely shuffled away from) and gasping, "Oh! You've got to tell us more! You can't just leave us hanging! You have to tell us his name, how old he is, what he's like, what he looks like and if he's hot. If he's hot, get right into what he looks like and we'll get to the other details later, except for the name. The name has to come first in case I see him if I ever go to Cerulean."

"Don't laugh, but by pure coincidence his name is Ash," Misty's mouth continued. "I didn't know it until after he asked me out. I beat his charmeleon when he came for a badge, and then we started talking and…he just asked me out. We set all the details and then he told me his name. I never would imagine they're the same person though. Ash speaks Italian, and he's always watching me, even when I don't think he is. I spilled water all over my shorts once, and he came over in no time at all even though he was in another conversation."

May beamed. "It sounds like he's really into you."

"He is." Misty cursed her mouth, which truly was speaking of their Ash through all its dirty tricks. "I just love it when he speaks Italian to me. He says some of the most romantic things, and it's so cute because half the time he doesn't realize he's done it."

"You're so lucky to have a boyfriend!" Dawn gushed.

Her mind suddenly clicked back on, the word 'boyfriend' setting off the radar. "Well, we're dating. We aren't boyfriend/girlfriend yet." She distracted the group quickly, making her eyes light up as best she could and looking excited. "Look at that black dress there! It's not good for a contest, but it would fit you perfectly, May. You've got the curves for it. You could probably wear it to the after party if you're planning on changing."

Apparently, she was, because the three rushed off to swoon over the dress, something Misty honestly wished she could be doing instead of dreaming about her sexy almost boyfriend in a sad, desperate way.

"It's generosity, it is," she instructed the mouse in her lap firmly. "I could be at the room, reading a romance novel to calm me down, but I'm here. I comment on the dresses, and I already promised to cover their make up since they loved what I did with it. Though May isn't used to this much, I think. I had to take some extra time convincing her that you need a lot more stage make-up than you would just walking around."

Pikachu looked up at her in confusion, not quite understanding the make-up concept, and probably not caring.

"The lights wash out your face," Misty continued to rant. "They make you look like a ghost if you aren't careful. You have to put it on extra heavy so the color sticks. You don't, Pikachu. You're naturally beautiful." She gave a little snort. "Apparently, so is the Ash from Cerulean."

The mouse smiled and burst into a long stream of Pikachu language, which, after much thought and deciphering, she managed to pick out a question that was something along the lines of "Why did you stop making out with my master even though you keep talking about him like he's sex on legs?" Pikachu didn't use all the exact same terms as Misty did, but the message crossed the barrier all the same.

"It's not that I don't want to, Pikapal. It's just that I can't." She sighed and stroked the mouse gently. "And it's sad too. He's such a good kisser."

Once again, another message was chucked over the barrier, this with Pikachu asking what made him such a good kisser, and how the rat could improve its own skill.

"Mmm," she sighed, hugging herself. "What _doesn't _make him a good kisser? I'm dating the guy, and I really like him. I'm bound to think he's a good kisser. But…I don't know. I can't really describe everything he does…I'll give you the pointers I can, what I really like when Ash kisses me. What do you think?"

The yellow monster replied that it was awfully generous of her to do so. She laughed.

**

* * *

**Abstinence was not the opposite of lust, as she would have thought, but instead gluttony. She had to hold herself back from her favorite things: deserts, training, things like that. You could have too much of anything, if you tried hard enough, and Misty was quite good at that. She could eat twice her body weight in chocolate ice cream, spend days in the pool, and lose any bit of self control she had with a well aimed insult.

Her ability to abstain was about to be tested as she wandered from her room to Brock's (which came complete with a kitchen) with her stomach growling and mind centering around thoughts of easy to heat microwave ramen or some kind of heat up macaroni and cheese. Anything she could toss in the microwave, actually, would just be terrific to her. A cute Italian trainer, sitting with his tight black t-shirt on with a sweet expression and a chocolate treat, however, was not in her best interest.

"_Un cioccolato con amore per te,_" Ash smiled, extending the chocolate covered strawberry to her.

She gasped and almost stumbled back, partly with surprise and partly with horror. Ash, though she supposed he always had the ability, didn't up and just speak Italian on a daily basis. The words, she had noticed, tended to slip out when she did something he particularly liked. The first time he spoke Italian was a night of firsts, as she had just given him his first hickey as well. He had hissed out something he had bashfully translated later as, "do that again". The words seemed to come as much as a surprise to him as it did to her, and the blush on his face seemed to signify he truly did it on accident every single time.

"What?"

"It means: a chocolate for you, with love. It's not exactly in that order, but Italian phrases it different." He gestured to the tray. "Brock asked me what to make for the party after the big contest, and I told him chocolate covered strawberries, because I bet nobody else would. He whipped up a tray for us to munch on too. You can have one, you know. You can have up to three, btu they're big. After that, it's gluttony, or lust, depending on how you look at it."

"Not _that_," she hissed, storming up. "You know what I mean! You spoke Italian! You never speak anything but English unless..." She swallowed, unwilling to say incase it brought up temptations she couldn't resist. "You never speak Italian."

"I would do it more if you had told me you liked it," Ash said with a sly smile, raising the confection to his mouth and taking a slow bite. "I don't think we can get much better at this couple stuff if we don't talk and tell each other what we like."

"I just don't believe it! You're a sneaky, underhanded, jerk. I don'teven know how you managed to figure this out! You must have had someone help you, because there's not a chance you could have..." She stopped in her tirade. "You got information from Pikachu," she whispered, eyes wide. "I didn't think that...I can't believe you've got Pikachu on your side too! And I told...oh, Mew, I told that little rat every..." She gulped and brought her hands to her mouth.

"Every?" Ash asked, taking too much joy in it all. "Every what, Mist? Everything you want me to do but never told me? Like I said before, you have to start talking to me if you want me to get better. I tell you everything I like, in both languages too! And you keep everything bottled up! I thought it was stupid for me to blurt all that stuff in Italian, but it turns out you _love _it almost as much as me calling you Mist or playing with your hands."

"You're a sneak," she snapped, storming up to him and jabbing him in the chest (not hard enough to hurt, of course, for that would violate kindness).

"I never would have thought," he remarked, taking advantage of the hand she had used to poke him. He laced the fingers of one hand through hers, then used them both to investigate it, running his fabriced hands along her smooth ones. He continued with a smirk, "that you'd like something like this. I thought you were a cliche romance novel type, playing by the book with lips and collarbones and stuff. I didn't think you'd have anything weird."

The words came out just as forceful as she intended, but over the years the command had lost its power, "stop it."

"_Voglio un baccio,_" he murmured, pulling her close. He put his lips to the back of her hand gently. "That means I want a kiss."

She gulped. "I was afraid it might."

"_Voglio bacciarti,_" he persisted, meeting her eyes. "_Mi manchi. _I want to kiss you. I miss you."

"_Vogolio bacciarti mi manchi _too," she insisted, quite sure that she had butchered the language by the turn of his lips at the words. She tugged her hand away and stepped back. "But not yet. The week's not over."

He narrowed his eyes. "It's all a matter of pride, then. That's against humility."

"_No!_" she said desperately. _Mew, _how much easier would it have been to give it up? To race back to him because, finally, finally after all these years they had finally gotten together and it actually _worked _better than any other relatioship she'd ever had? It was better than having him look at her like this, like she'd just chucked Pikachu at Team Rocket because they promised her a pretty necklace. "Ash, it's not that! It's a matter of proving that I can do this!"

"I believe you can, Misty!" he said back, jumping to his feet. "But you don't have to! Don't you get it? You're _good_, Misty. Whatever anyone's said, you're wholesome and you're pure as people can be. It's not always just the bad things you say or do but the want to fix it and to make things right! If I listened to the morals of half the things they say _I'd _be burning in hell, and I've had plenty of others say I'm a saint! I don't want a stereotype, I want you."

"I can be an angel, Ash, by definition, by virtues." She swallowed thickly and reached for a strawberry, making sure to only grab two: one less than their agreement. "It's not just you I have to prove it to. It's a matter of dignity now. I don't need someone to tell me I'm nice. I can keep this up."

"Have you ever thought that it's not about _you_? That I'm not doing this because I don't think you can keep this up, but because I _can't_?" He noticed she stopped at his words, and he shouted at her, gripping the table behind him. "Have you ever thought that by doubting yourself, it's rubbing off? I don't have the self confidence you think I do! I'm only brave because I _have _fear! Behind every taunt I knew you were just edging me onward, but when you think that you have to follow every one of these to be worth something, how the hell do you think it feels when you told me I'm the living seven sins!"

"You're not, Ash." She whispered breathlessly. "You're an angel. You're not perfect, but you're mine, and you're so beautiful."

"Then kiss me and prove it," he whispered. "Tell everyone we're a couple and act as if it's not a crime, because it isn't. It's best friends that make the best lovers. And...and we haven't done a thing that we shouldn't. You like it as much as I do. Kiss me and prove you're not ashamed of me."

"Mew, Ash, I can't be ashamed of you. I could never! I..." she gulped, and continued in a whisper, "I'm sorry._ Mi manchi._"

She closed her eyes tight, and raced up the stairs.

**

* * *

**Kindness was easy to show off, even though envy, its opposite, was one of her worst traits. Charity, compassion, friendship and sympathy were easy enough to express. The catch of it being only for being kind, with no hope of trade off behind it narrowed down the times she had been the biblical definition of nice. With the years she had perfected it, traveling with Ash, Brock and Tracey giving her a good insight on a deep kind of friendship that one found only in war and constantly facing life threatening situations. She could count on them to always be there for her, just as she would always be there for them.

But it didn't mean that every once in a while they weren't real assholes to one another, such as now, while Ash annoyed her and she was forcing herself not to smack him with all her strength.

His finger, shaking a bit from being held in one place for so long, was about half a centimeter away from her face. He had been holding it there for the past five minutes, and she was doing her very best to ignore him. It was terribly hard to, however, especially when he was singing in a quiet voice, "_I'm not touching you!_" and giggling like an infant who just learned the game of peek-a-boo. And, because of kindness, she was not allowed to smack him.

"Ash, I'm being patient right now," Misty said quietly, closing her book. "If you continue to do that, I will leave the room. You don't want me to go away, do you? You can't possibly win the bet if I leave. So I'm going to ask you to take your finger away."

"But I'm not _touching you_," Ash insisted. "So I'm not doing anything so there's no reason for you to leave. Anyway, if you try I'll race across the room and tackle you. Then we can make-out and be happy together all over again, instead of you being a cranky crazy person and me wishing that I could sleep with you."

Misty wrinkled her face and glanced at him. "Ash, even if the whole bet was off it's going to be a long, long time before you get into these pants."

He sat closer to her and draped an around her shoulders, smiling at her sweet as sugar. "That's not very nice."

"The chastity factor more than makes up for it," she snorted, flicking his nose lightly. "I should really consider dumping you, Ketchum. You're not all that nice to me. After all, you're constantly trying to break me out of whatever fad I'm into. Even this week's fad, which _should _be nice, because it's all about becoming a better person. You just can't be satisfied, Ash. You don't ever want me to change and better myself."

"No, you're great just the way you are," he said with all the tone of a Christmas special, beaming his best smile. "Do I get a prize for my kind words?"

She rolled her eyes and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, clapped it in good nature, and began to stand.

He pulled her back down and held her close. "Misty, can't I get a real kiss? Just a peck on the lips? I promise I won't tackle you and rape you because of all my pent up sexiness." (She rolled her eyes once more.) "But I really think you're wonderful and if nothing else we could just stay and cuddle and I could say nice Italian things in your ear about how beautiful you are and how much I love you and want to hold you forever."

"You love me?" She leapt away from him quickly, pulse suddenly quickening. "You've never said that before!"

He frowned and crossed his arms, half infuriated by her scampering away and half infuriated that she seemed repulsed by his love. "I'm sure I have. We've been together for forever! I'm sure I've said it and I don't care if this is the first time. I love you. There, I've said it and you…" Ash's eyes widened. "You never said it back. You've never said it and…that can't be what this whole thing is about! First I can't say we're boyfriend and girlfriend, now you're angry that I told you that I love you."

"I'm not angry, Ash," she retorted. "Don't you think that's just a really bad surprise to spring on a girl?"

He rolled his eyes at her. "No. I think it's an awfully good surprise."

"Well, it's not! I'm not the kind of girl you can just blurt these things to! They need time! They need…they need some kind of romantic setting and a warning label." She swallowed and sat back down on the couch, trying to cool herself. "I don't come from a touchy-feely family, Ash. I don't say I love you to just anybody. Here you are, just wanting me to blurt out some kind of heartfelt confession that I don't think I can do. I need time to write something down and plan it and…you're lucky I don't hit you for saying something like that!"

"I'll add 'I love you' to my list of things to annoy Misty," he joked. "It's alright if you don't say it back to me right now, I know you're not ready, but you can tell me that you do want to be with me, can't you? You can say that you really care about me, and you like me as much as you did when we first started kissing and dating and all that, right?"

"Of course," she smiled. "I can even say it. I…" She gulped, wondering if this was really a smart thing to do. "I love you, Ash."

His lips twisted up in a sympathetic smile at the hollow words. He kissed her forehead gently and took her hands in his. "You don't really mean it, Misty. I can hear it, and it's alright. But I'm going to keep going after it. You _will _say you love me before you leave."

"How do you know I don't mean it?" she shot back, leaning forward with a teasing smile.

He gave a squeeze on the hands he was holding, and Misty realized that he might actually, not be hurt, exactly, but take this more to heart than she expected. "You don't, Mist. But it was nice of you to try."

**

* * *

**Diligent and dufous. Within five minutes with the couple, it wouldn't be hard to figure out which one was which. While Misty was a worker to the point of obsessive, problematic, needing psychological help kind of diligent, Ash would happily twiddle his thumbs and stamp the word "sloth" across his forehead. Whereas Ash tried to get out of the chores, Misty quite enjoyed them. When she had nothing to do she was easily bored. Growing up, her house had always been a swirl of action, all four sister (and, at one point, two parents) rushed around with things to do, places to be, shows to put on.

Due to her family history, it was no surprise at all that she managed to organize the party and decorations with a few phone calls to her sisters to advise on the proper color schemes. She was very used to having to redecorate the tank an hour before the show. Having an entire afternoon to do it, and on land, had her breezing through it with time to spare. Unfortunately, this time to spare meant Ash could draw her away to his room, lock the door and…

Shivers tingled down her spine, and she raced to Brock to try and find something else to do.

Ash grabbed her hand, dragging her into a closet and closing the door. He obviously hadn't planned it, and being as klutzy as he was he managed to smack his head on the dangling light bulb as he drew her in. Nevertheless, he was relentless and quickly snapped on the light, smiling despite the further failure of his plans, as it was a black light that shone and turned his teeth a glowing purple. Misty gawked at the light, wondering what the hell a black light would be useful for in a closet.

"What the fuck is this? _Laser Quest?_" She pointed up at the light and continued to gawk. "I love Dawn to death, but if all rich people do freaky things like this, I think I'm glad to be living at near poverty level…my sisters buy more clothes than Brock's whole family." She looked back at him when he refused to answer, and almost screamed at the strange, big smile he had on his face, leading her to wonder if he had gone mad."

"You're pretty in this light," he explained.

She smacked his forehead. "I've got work to do."

"Play with me." He sat his hands on her hips and pushed her gently against the wall, turning his head to press his lips against her neck, not kissing but resting. "Please, can we call this whole thing off? You can say I'm wrong if you want. I'll even say you're wrong and I _never _do that. You're just so…you've been in the kitchen all day and you smell like chocolate." He was stumbling, stuttering for a moment, talking nonsense before he finally managed to find more words that fit. "You changed into these skinny jeans and you're wearing your bathing suit underneath; I can tell because you always wear sports bras. Do you even own a bra?"

"No," she said distantly, closing her eyes at the feel of his lips. She lost herself in the moment, letting her head roll away from his to try and encourage him. "My bathing suit's a little tight, Ash. Maybe we should try and fix it."

He smiled against her skin. "I think I remember a few tricks."

He kissed her neck gently, and the hot jolt down her spine made her gasp and jump away, shaking her head. "I…crap! Ash, you're cheating! It's bad enough that you keep coming after me but look at you! You've got your jacket on without a shirt under it like you're something special! Well, put a freaking shirt on! I don't walk around without a bra on or shirtless or show any cleavage or too much leg or anything!"

He smirked, pulling back his jacket and moving his body as provocatively as he could. She rolled her eyes at him and stormed off, ignoring his grunts and groans, many of them consisting of, "you know you want to do me, baby" which, frankly, made her nauseous. He tried to drag her back, snatching a belt loop and dragging her back to jokingly lick her cheek. She squealed with disgust, playfully tweaked his nose, and ran off in search of Brock.

"Brock! You have to save me!" Misty screamed, running into the kitchen with a laugh. "Ash thinks he's sexy and it's gonna give me nightmares!"

He flung his arms around her and spun her around. "You're gonna be dreaming about it, alright, but it ain't no nightmare!"

"Lemme down, you dork!"

"Say I'm sexy!"

Brock rolled his eyes and watched the two spin and play, half wondering when they would get together and half wondering what had brought on such a big change in them. Ever since the fish festival in Pallet they had seemed more playful, almost as if they were boyfriend and girlfriend. There was no way the two could have hidden something that big, of course. At least Ash couldn't, Misty might, but Ash was an idiot and hopelessly dedicated to the truth. There was no way he could hide such a thing.

He paused then, setting down the watermelon he had been carving, and staring at the two as they continued to play. They certainly did seem more intimate. The three of them had always been friends, and swinging around each other in the air, shoving each other in pools and acting much like Ash and Misty were doing now. However, their touches seemed to linger longer than before. Hands seemed more comfortable when they accidently slipped under shirts, no jumping or apologizing, all as if they had done it before.

He shook his head, and turned back to his watermelon. What would happen, would happen, and he wasn't about to interfere, well, except…

"Ash," Brock groaned. "Could you let her go? She's the only one besides me that's been doing any work around here!"

**

* * *

**Chastity…chastity was dangerous ground to tread on, that oh-so-deadly opposite of lust. She didn't even want to think of such a wonderful, beautiful, desperately needed a hot make-out session before she exploded with lust for the adorable pikachu trainer. She was supposed to achieve purity through education, betterment, moral wholesomeness, which means she wasn't supposed to be dreaming about the locker room becoming empty, and he would turn to her, hands sweeping around her and pulling her close, kissing her gently at first, then the two rolling on the floor with wild passion and hot, teenage love that needed to be hosed down.

Ash leaned to the side and gently whispered in her ear, "I bet the room's gonna clear out soon."

She kept a firm look on the screen. "Yeah, probably. I'm gonna go with them though."

"Can't. You'll get locked out without your ticket." He tapped her shoulder, and she watched him stuff her ticket and his ticket down his pants and, quite, possibly his boxers. "You wouldn't get them even if the stupid bet wasn't on, would ya Misty? Oh no, I've won this round. You're stuck here with me and there's nothing you can do about it. The second everyone leaves I'm going to seduce you. I'm going to be the best seducer ever!"

"Like you seduced me in the closet with your mad dancing skills?" she snorted. "Don't release such sexiness on my again, Ash. I don't think I can handle it."

"Alright, so I'm not the best with words," Ash looked around, displeased that there was still one straggler who was spending much too long brushing his hair, and had been counting backwards from five hundred for quite some time. He moved his hand to her thigh, and grinned when her breath caught. "But I've always been better actions anyway. You know I'm pretty good when it comes to seducing with my hands."

"You've been hanging out with Brock too much," she scolded.

"I might," he consented, rolling his eyes to the boy who had slammed his locker. A few moments later, he was out the door, and they were alone. "Misty, I'm about to try and seduce you. Are you fully ready to be seduced?"

"No, but the warning was awfully nice, thanks."

She wasn't surprised when he turned his head to give her a kiss, but she was surprised that she lacked the self control to hold herself back. She tossed herself into it, pushing her lips hard onto his before pulling away again with a sad sigh. Two more days, and she could give herself in. She could keep those soft lips on hers and let her hands slide down his chest, which, she sadly noted, was now covered.

He pulled her back, and kissed her neck softly. "Only counts if we french, we can do anything else. Nothing else counts. If you could do me a favor and just…just kiss me for a little while. Every time you say no I feel like crap, and I don't think I can handle one more time. Could you do that for me? It would fall into kindness?"

"Alright," she nodded slowly, falling forward. "Just because you're a real sweetheart."

It was light, barely anything, but it cooled them both down, and Ash greeted Dawn with a much bigger smile than he had managed since the week had started. It was then that Misty wondered if following all the virtues really were leading to happiness.

**

* * *

**Humility was her hardest one. She was a prideful person, not respectful or modest or selfless. She would never steal credit from someone, but she would eagerly leap at the chance to blame anyone else for her mistakes. She didn't like being wrong, she liked being right. Standing in her sisters' shadows, she had developed the need to keep from vanishing, where her red hair had forced her into a constant spotlight and she developed a need to hide. It came down to being in control, being the leader, being better, being the one people turned to for advice and constantly having her ego boosted.

It was twelve in the morning, technically the last day of the bet as she snuck into his room, shaking him awake with a wide grin. She supposed rubbing it in his face (though she would try her best to disguise it) had to fall into some sort of sin category, wrath or pride, but she didn't really mind at the moment. As long as she could disguise it behind some innocent sort of action, she would be home free. She would make it through the last day. She knew it.

She had his card key, and slid it in and out quickly, grinning as the door unlocked and she easily slid in. Her sneakers raced across the soft floor and leaned over his bed, gently shaking his shoulder and waking him up. She couldn't see for shit in the dark, and she didn't really mind, plopping into bed with him as if they were related instead of an awkward teenage couple, He barely reacted, instinctually jumping up and reaching for his pokeballs.

"It's me, Ash!" Misty giggled, grabbing his wrist. "It's the last day! Can you believe it? Today's the party!"

"Party?" he asked slowly. "Oh, right. The contest thing. I'm glad you woke me up to tell me that. I wasn't having a nice dream or anything like that. I don't even like sleep. I just love waking up at two in the morning to find out that there's a boring party I'm going to sleep through because I woke up at two in the morning."

"No!" She hugged him. "Today's the last day! I'm going to make it! I told you I could and I did!"

He pulled away. "Let me get this straight. You woke me up at two in the morning to tell me there was a party, not just that, but that the thing that I hate, more than anything you've ever done except the time you pushed me down a well, you've been doing you're going to win and finish doing today. Tomorrow, you have to go home, and you decided the nice thing to do was to tell me that I'm not getting to kiss you today either. Awesome. Great girlfriend."

She fumed, "That's not what I was doing!"

"Then what _were _you doing?"

"I was…" she opened and closed her mouth, realizing that whatever she was about to say would only be a nice paraphrase of his little speech. She sighed and closed her eyes, crossing her legs and muttering softly. "I was letting my pride get in the way. I wasted the entire week we could have had on dates and kissing and having fun, but instead I spent the week trying to avoid you and completely ruining any kind of fun we could have had."

"And?" he prodded.

"I'm sorry," she admitted.

He shifted in the covers. "That was an awfully fast change."

"It's because I didn't just come here to rub it in. I haven't been sleeping well the past week, that's partly why I've been so grumpy. I've been feeling like crap because I…I did what you said. I wasted my time and I hurt you and…every since that day with the chocolate I've felt horrible about how I've been making you feel. You would have understood if I really meant it…but we both know I'm doing it for my pride. Coming in here to gloat about it just confirmed all that."

"Maybe that's not enough," Ash whispered. "Maybe you've been torturing me all week and I deserve a little more than that."

"And what if…" She closed her eyes and swallowed hard. "Ash, I can't remember the last time I've said this to anyone, and I'm not saying it now because I think I'm supposed to. I honestly mean it when I say…Ash; I've never said this to _anyone_. Well, I've said it to pokémon once or twice and I've talked about it when it's not about me, but I've never actually, in a relationship said, even though I haven't been in that many relationships."

"Misty, you're rambling."

She gulped. "Right. Sorry. It's just hard for me to get over my pride and say-" there was another deep breath in and out- "I love you, Ash Ketchum."

"That was awfully sappy," he chuckled. She was about to throw up a rage, when he ducked forward and kissed her lips gently, barely more than a peck. "I love ya too, Misty. And I'm glad you said it, and actually meant it this time. Bet it wasn't easy."

She shrugged and pushed him back on the soft comforters, heart fluttering and stomach feeling strangely warm. "Maybe it wasn't, but it feels a helluva lot better than anything I've done all week. Maybe it's time I follow my heart and take your advice. After all, I think you actually might have used your brain for once."

"You're so mean," he giggled.

She smirked and jabbed him in the chest, smiling when his now ungloved hands tangled with hers. "What can I say, Ash? It's one of my many virtues."

**

* * *

**Cheesy? Why, I've no idea what you're talking about. I'm actually somewhat satisfied with this. The ending wasn't horrible (and we all know how I love to end with some kind of one liner) and I did kind of like the character bit…I dunno. –shrugs- I guess we'll see what you think, huh?

…And if anyone could explain to me why my Microsoft Word keeps insisting I find it the research tools for the Portuguese language, that'd be great.


End file.
